Frank Williams WW2 Wrexham TA, RWF mix of units, Killyleagh, Possible Commando time

ok so my next question (sorry) having read about Whittington Barracks why, if they were US Army during WW2 would the 31st Battalion RWF (whoever they were) be stationed there?

I still can't see why he also ended up in hospitals in Bangor, Abergele and Portmadoc whilst listed as being in 'field' which I am assuming is their shorthand for Lichfield because that was the one above all of these entries.

Also one other odd question, did people often refuse innoculations? both my grandfathers refused them in 1943/4, it doesn't say what they were vaccinations for.

hi.
I think the US was there from sometime in 43, so the last entry showing ''Field'' is 24 June 43 so it may tie in. i am trying to figure the hospital bits, it's odd.

ivor

ah ok - so the Americans were following him around then. First Ireland, then Staffordshire.

Well I suppose it would be boring if it was as nice and logical as my other Grandfather's record. I am fascinated that once he became a driver the records are all clear and logical but this patch before that is just so strange. Makes me wonder what on earth he was up to.

Just looking at the Court Marshall info, what could 'disembarking' be referring to? boat?

hi.
this link is quite long. but you will need to scroll down to the heading. Changes in 1940, it has some more info.

http://ww2ni.webs.com/informationotherpart2.htm


ivor

thanks - that explains how the US troops fitting in with RWF in NI then.

Anniek.

Disembark. means to leave a ship, do we have a ship.
yes.
H.M.S Al Rawdah

Is that what they were guarding.

possible.


Ivor

hmm makes you wonder doesn't it.

hi.
Have been looking at the Y List and found the following.

''Y List


The army ruling at one time was that if a soldier had been in hospital for 21 days or more he was put on the Y-list; which meant that when he became fit for duty he was sent to a holding unit and then could be sent to any unit other than his own. This, in most cases, was not a popular move which, I believe under the orders of General Montgomery, was changed. The ruling became that if a soldier was in hospital for 21 day when wounded or sick for 30 days he was entitled to seven days home sick leave and then would return to his own unit if they wished or could be transferred to another unit.


My Dad's service record did exactly that shown above. Went into hospital early July 1942 and 21 days later was posted to the Y List. He did return to his own unit in October that year.


Hope that was of some help.


Also when my Dad was demobbed, he was posted to the Y List. Maybe one of the Vets can tell us a bit more.''

I have extracted the dates he was in either CRS or Hospital and they are more that 21 days. but what is a bit puzzling is that he is not posted to the ''Y'' until nearly 6 Months later.
and if he was in Litchfield what is he doing in Med Facilities in North West Wales.
Odd

Ivor.

thank you - that does in some ways make sense. He was put on Y list and then appointed to a completely different role as a driver. He did claim he was invalided out of the commandos due to an extra bone in his foot which cause some problems with marches but my mum said he never had any problems walking or going on long hill walks etc after the war so she never fully understood that.

I am relieved I am not the only one who thinks it is all a bit odd. We have no idea about the hospital visits when he was supposedly in Lichfield. He was always in excellent health right up until he was killed in the 1970s so as far as we know there were no ongoing health issues, there is no indication he was ever wounded on his sheets (mind of course there was no indication he actually did anything at all or that he ever left the UK so who knows) and I don't believe some pain from an extra bone in his foot would warrant hospital stays in the middle of WW2.

I haven't really seen any other people's records other than my 2 grandfathers but were they normally as odd/large gaps as this one? My other grandad did training courses and got qualifications which are all listed, there is lots of stuff on his about where he was and who he was training. not loads of detail but enough and in a logical spread out timeline that it makes sense.

hi.
I have been trying to make some sense of his Hospital dates.
CRS Dromore is, i think, just what it says. He was there for treatment for Scabies.

Now, the rest is where it gets a bit more interesting.
CRS Vaynol is on the Menai Straits near to Port Dinorwic,now Felinheli (welsh). Obviously something happened, prior to the 18/4/42 to put him there for 3 days. until 20/4/42, so it might be reasonable to think it was not particularly serious.
The next entry is the Military Hospital, Abergele .which had the following.

>Abergele WWII US Army Camp 32nd Evacuation Hospital 62nd General Hospital (1,500 beds)<

Whatever happened to put him there,must have been more serious as he is there from 16 to 24/4.43
9 days later he is in CRS Portmadoc, which also has a harbour. 3rd to 11/5/43. a month later he is back there again 12 to 23/6/43.

There are 2 things here i do not quite understand.
first. What is this 31 Btn in Litchfield which i can find nothing about. and why after his release from Hospital did he not return to this unit.
second . why would it take 6 months to put him on the ''Y''List.

with regard to the second question the only thing i can think of is that after his discharge on 23/6 he returned to whatever his duties were but became unfit to do them.

I think it fairly obvious that during this period he was Commando. I know that there were quite a number of training camps on the North West Wales Coast, Tywyn had 4 camps within the area, there was another at Barmouth and one at Harlech.

But, sadly, unless someone can come up with more info i don't know where we can go from here. i will keep looking.



ivor